JURIST - Paper Chase: Bangladesh court charges senior opposition leader with war crimes from 1971 war

[JURIST] The International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh (ICTB) [Facebook page] has charged Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, leader of Jamaat e Islami (JI) [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], with war crimes allegedly stemming from the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] against Pakistan. Bangladesh established the tribunal in March 2010 [JURIST report] to address charges of war crimes [Guardian report] and crimes against humanity. The tribunal accepted 20 of 31 charges [Daily Star report] including allegations of aiding Pakistani soldiers, murder, torching villages, rape, looting and forcibly converting Hindus to Islam. Sayedee has denied the charges. The Jamaat-e-Islami party, which openly campaigned against breaking away [AP report] from Pakistan during the war, has accused the tribunal of targeting political opponents [VOA report].

In July, Bangladesh prosecutors filed the underlying war crime charges [JURIST report] in the ICTB against Sayedee. Earlier that month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] praised recent reforms [press release] to the ICTB but urged it to do more to ensure fair trials, including allowing an accused to question the impartiality of the tribunal, which the law currently prohibits. In July 2010, the ICTB issued four arrest warrants [JURIST report] for the leaders of Jamaat e Islami, including Sayedee, for alleged crimes committed during the Liberation War.